THE FINCHES. 297 



HAB. Eastern temperate North America, breeding from about 40 (approximately) 

 north to Labrador and the Saskatchewan ; winters in Cuba, eastern Mexico, Central 

 America, and northern South America, as far as Ecuador. 



"Sp. CHAR. Upper parts generally, with head and ne<*k all round, glossy black. A 

 broad crescent across the upper part of the breast, extending narrowly down tu the belly, 

 axillaries, and under wing-coverts, carmine. Eest of under parts, rump, and upper tail- 

 coverts, middle wing-coverts, spots on the tertiaries and inner great wing-coverts, basal 

 half of primaries and secondaries, and a large patch on the ends of the inner webs of the 

 outer three tail-feathers, pure white. Length, 8.50 inches ; wing, 4.15. 



"Female without the white of quills, tail, and rump, and without any black or red. 

 Above yellowish brown streaked with darker; head with a central stripe above, and a 

 superciliary on each side, white. Beneath dirty white, streaked with brown on the breast 

 and sides. Under wing-coverts and axillars saffron-yellow. 



"In the male the bla?k feathers of the back and sides of the neck have a subterminal 

 white bar. There are a few black spots on the sides of the breast just below the red. 



"The young male of the year is like the female, except in having the axillaries, under 

 wing-coverts, and a trace of a patch on the breast, light rose-red. 



"The depth of the carmine tint on the under parts varies a good deal in different speci- 

 mens, but it is always of the same rosy hue." (Hist. N. Am. B.) 



As may be conjectured from its name, the Eose-breasted Grosbeak 

 is a lovely bird, the fully adult male being decked with a tricolored 

 plumage of deepest black, purest white, and richest rose-red. In 

 the southern portion of the State the species is transient, passing 

 rather hurriedly through in spring and fall; but in the northern 

 portions (perhaps more than the northern half), it is a summer 

 resident. The Rose-breasted Grosbeak is even more remarkable for 

 its beautiful song than for its richness of plumage, and is therefore, 

 and also on account of other qualities which commend it, highly 

 prized as a cage-bird. Says Dr. Brewer:* 



"Dr. Hoy, of Eacine, supplies some interesting information in 

 regard to the habits and nesting of this species. On the 15th of 

 June, within six miles of that city, he found seven nests, all within. 

 a space of not over five acres, and he was assured that each year 

 they resort to the same locality and nest thus socially. Six of 

 these nests were in thorn-trees, all within six to ten feet from the 

 ground, and all were in the central portion of the top. Three of 

 the four parent birds sitting on the nests were males, and this he- 

 was told was usually the case. When a nest was disturbed, all the 

 neighboring Grosbeaks gathered around and appeared equally inter- 

 ested. Both nest and eggs so closely resemble those of the Tanagers 

 that it is difficult to distinguish them. Their position is, however, 

 usually different, the Grosbeaks generally nesting in the central por- 

 tion of a small tree, the Tanagers being placed on a horizontal 

 limb." 



*Hist, N. Am. B. vol. ii, pp. 72,73. 



